Name's Will and I'm currently a 2nd year medical student. I've loved games all my life: I grew up with the Genesis but only until college did I realize that games meant more to me than a childhood hobby. Whereas many of my friends' interests in games started to wane (or had disappeared long ago), my passion for gaming, particularly news and writing about the industry, began to grow. My parents finally noticed that games meant more to me than "childhood playthings" when they noticed that's all I really cared about while at home on breaks for the past couple of years.

As for favorites, Shadow of the Colossus is probably my all-time fav as it changed my whole perception of the medium and what it could achieve.

Braid is another for introducing me to indie games, this entire sub-industry that is booming with amazing, creative talent and innovation.

Final Fantasy X made me actually cry at the ending, so er, that says quite a lot as to how emotionally vested I was in the characters and story.

The Uncharted franchise is an incredible mix of stellar narrative, gameplay, and downright fun and enjoyable characters -- Drake and crew are probably my favorite bunch that never cease to crack a smile on my face.

Bit.Trip Runner for its difficulty, its music, and its reward and gratifying feeling of accomplishment.

Persona 4 for the hilarious and awesome characters, the great voice acting, the storyline, the addictive, perfect dichotomy between juggling school and battling demons in the shadow realm.

It's been an incredible experience. Throughout the entire night, all the way to 12 midnight PT, you guys, my family, friends, and loved ones kept rooting for me and voting.

This contest seemed to be an even closer race than the actual Presidential election!

Every other minute the competition seemed to be neck and neck, all the way up until the very last 2 minutes. It was then that the valiant efforts of everyone culminated into a successful victory for Sackboy.

Not only did we win in our category, we also had the largest number of TOTAL votes, making my entry the OVERALL winner!

To Dtoid and everyone who read my blog, I can't thank you guys enough for your help. Literally every vote counted, and without your contributions, none of this would've been possible.

I've attached a photo of our victory (beating out that damn Scarecrow)!

[I also want to add that the competition with the scarecrow was extremely tough, and frankly, a little bit suspicious. Every time my family and friends managed to gather a few more votes, my vote count would steadily increase one by one. However, he would stay neck and neck and jump in spurts to close the gap and maintain a typically 5 vote lead. When I ran out of juice and the votes stopped coming in, he would stop increasing as well.

It was then in the last two minutes that my family and friends who luckily had reserve votes waiting all night that the 9 vote splurge came in to seal the deal.

I don't know if he was using some proxy or VPN but either way, it made the victory all the more greater, to win in the face of anything, cheating or not.]